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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0365.PDF
FLIGHT, 23 February 1951 235 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS THE BRABAZON REPORT LORD BRABAZON'S report on an inquiry into the relativeresponsibilities of captains, operators and airfield authorities in the matter of take-offs and landings in bad weather was pub-lished last week in the form of a White Paper.* Undertaken at the request of the Minister of Civil Aviation, the inquiry followed theaccident in which a B.E.A. Viking crashed in thick fog at London Airport on October 31st last; 28 of its 30 occupants lost their lives. Lord Brabazon's principal recommendation was that the respon-sibility for establishing weather minima should, as at present, remain with the operator. In a subsequent statement to the Houseof Lords Lord Pakenham said that the Government had accepted the report in principle, including this main recommendation. Lord Brabazon's report suggested a number of new safetymeasures, the most important of which was that arrangements should be made for the measurement of "runway visual range"when visibility at airfields fell below one nautical mile. Among the main conclusions reached were the following : (1) In no circum-stances should an airfield be closed against emergency landings; where a runway is unserviceable the authorities should infoimpilots that the runway is closed; and in cases where notified safety and rescue services are temporarily not available pilots should beinformed ot the situation and the reasons for it. (2) Runway lighting should be switched on when visibility by day falls below one mileor below a higher figure when requested by a pilot; I.C.A.O. con- tracting states should also be invited to take parallel action. (3)Existing procedure by which operators of British-registered aircraft are responsible for establishing weather minima should be retained,but State approval should be required for these minima (in the case of foreign operators the minima should be approved by thenational authorities concerned and notified to the M.C.A.). (4) When precision or runway approach-aids are used weather minimashould be stated in terms of critical height (i.e., the height below which it would be impracticable to carry out an overshoot withadequate terrain clearance); in the case of an approach on which the aircraft desires to circle visually, minima should be stated interms^ of ceiling, visibility and runway visual range. In Lord Brabazon's opinion, the operator should still be heldresponsible for ensuring that his pilots abide by the minima estab- lished. The report also recommended that no change should bemade in the existing procedure by which the State can take^action against operators who violate these minima.Although they were outside the terms of reference of the inquiry, Lord Brabazon also appended a number of recommenda-tions which, he thought, would help in furthering air safety. He suggested that Fido equipment should be made available at oneairfield in the United Kingdom, which should also be fitted with a comprehensive system of aids to instrument approach. (Manston,the site of the existing Fido installation, is not at present equipped with additional aids.) He also recommended that action to installdaylight runway markings should be expedited and that further trials of runway lighting systems should be carried out as quicklyas possible. * H.MJ Stationery Office, price gd. FOR HELICOPTER PILOTS FOR some time the application of existing licensing regulationsto the piloting of helicopters has been under consideration by the M.C.A. and it has now been decided not to introduce a separateclass of licence at the present stage of helicopter development. In future, therefore, the right to pilot helicopters will be conferredby the issue of endorsements on a normal flying licence; the licence itself must, of course, be appropriate to the privilegeswhich the pilot wishes to exercise. In the case of private pilots, evidence will be required oftraining under a competent instructor in a helicopter fitted with dual controls; at least five hours' flying as pilot-in-charge isrequired, not less than three of which must be on cross-country flights. A "reasonable amount of experience" as pilot on the typeto which the application relates is another requirement. Technical examinations will be conducted by the A.R.B. on the type inquestion. For commercial licences at least 50 hr flying is needed, althoughthis may be reduced to 20 hr in the case of a licence restricted to aerial work. At least 50 hr of cross-country flying on conventionalaircraft is required, of which not less than 10 hr irust be on heli- copters. An alternative to this is a total of 20 hr cross-country onhelicopters. Night and instrument ratings are also obtainable, although, for the present, helicopters may be flown in controlareas and zones only under V.F.R. conditions. SOUTH AFRICAN SCENE RECENT news from South Africa indicates that the Union'sair services are in the melting-pot this year, and that some major changes are possible. At present, protracted negotiations between the Dutch Govern-ment and K.L.M. on the one side, and the Union Government and South African Airways on the other, are dragging on weekafter week over a new agreement concerning the route to Europe. Last year K.L.M. asked Mr. Paul Sauer, the South AfricanMinister of Transport, to consider increasirg the present two K.L.M. services from AmsterdEm to Johannesburg each week tothree during the "season." This led to the present negotiations in Cape Town. The South African negotiators are understood to have producedfigures showing that the traffic between South Africa and Holland justifies, at the most, five services a month. They refuse to enter-tain any extension and it is thought unlikely that they will even tolerate a continuation of the present twice-weekly frequency. Onthe South African side, it is believed that 80 per cent of K.L.M.'s traffic is really between Scuih Africa and Ergland. The "end-to-end" principle is being insisted upon, which means that airlines may only book passengers if their real destinations are in thecountry of which the airline is a national. This principle is a feature of the present agreement between South Africa andHolland. If South African Airways and their partners, B.O. A.C., get theirway, they will, of course, absorb K.L.M.'s traffic, which amounts at present to 88 passengers per week. B.O.A.C. havesufficient Hermes airliners to accommodate the heavy Festival of Britain bookings on extra services even iftheir regular aircraft are full, and S.A.A. can probably put on a few extra Constellation services if necessary.The Comet is currently causing some deep thinking among airline officials, for, while it can land atJohannesburg's Palmietfontein Airport (which has a 2,000-yd runway), the fact that the airport altitudeis 5,500ft means that it cannot take oft with a full payload and enough fuel to reach Nairobi, a distanceof 1,815 miles. At a 5,500ft airport the Comet apparently needs something like 2,700 yd for a full-payload take-off with an appreciable amount of fuel. When Mr. Whitney Straight was in Johannesburgrecently he suggested that the Comet should land its passengers at Palmietfontein in the ordinary way, but SCANDINAVIAN UNITY: A historic moment In Scandi- navian aviation was marked on February 8th by the signing of a 25-year pact stipulating full co-operation between A.B.A. (Sweden). D.N.L (Norway) and D.D.L. (Denmark). Left to right (in front): Mr. Marcus Wallenberg, A.B.A.; Mr. Per M. Hansson, D.N.L, chairman of S.A.S. board; Mr. Per Kampmann, D.D.L. At rear: Mr. Axel Gjores, Mr. E. F. Eckhoffand H.R.H. Prince Axel of Denmark.
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